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A Month of Thanks

November is one of those few months where we have two National Holidays- Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving (biggest running day of the year)-both days built around thanks.
So I’m going to write a bit about thanks.
This month I was incredibly honored to be nominated and awarded this year’s Road Race Director of the Year Award. There is nothing more humbling than being acknowledged by your contemporaries for a job well done.
However, in my opinion, this award speaks as much (more!) about the Boilermaker than of me.
You see, I’m not the first, nor even the second, Boilermaker to receive this honor- I am the third!
My brother Earle received the award in 1998 while Bob Ingalls was recognized in 2007: no other race has achieved this feat: now that’s pretty cool.
A week later, the race was awarded the ‘2016 Outstanding Philanthropic Organization’ by the Association of Fundraising Professionals of Central New York.
In both cases the reason the Boilermaker was singled out for honors was for its continuing community outreach.
Things like, our charity bib program, the wheelchair challenge (where we’ve given away 28 racing wheelchairs), the West Utica Public Market and Boilermaker Urban Garden (BUG).
You see we are, in the end, a 501c3 organization whose mission is to improve the health and wellness of our region with (obviously) a heavy emphasis on long-distance running.
So about thanks…
I give thanks to our tens of thousands of participants who circle that second Sunday in July on their calendar.
Thank you for coming.
I give thanks for the incredibly loyal volunteers, sponsors and staff who support us with ‘time, talent and treasure’.
Thank you for helping.
And finally, I give thanks that I have the opportunity to be a part of an organization as awesome as the Boilermaker.
Thank you for putting up with me!